A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

Results tagged ‘ Hugo Chavez ’

Since I never seem to find myself in a place that my hometown (from across the state) Tigers like to visit, I’m usually limited to one or two live games in a year. This year, I only had one chance and that day was last Saturday as Detroit visited Baltimore for what promised to be an easy four-game series. Well, let’s just say that neither the game nor the series went the way they were supposed to go. The Tigers hammered Daniel Cabrera in the first inning but then managed to not only let the Orioles back into the game but even found a way to lose it. And they dropped 2 of the four games. So, I’m not writing about the game or the series. I’m writing about what I saw at the game instead.

First off, If you’ve never been to Camden Yards, go. The tickets are cheap, the views are great and chances are that if you came to watch another team play the Orioles, you’re going to go home happy. However, I have a bone to pick with the management. Why can’t I buy a beer in a souvenir cup? I don’t want a Pepsi. I don’t want a Diet Pepsi. I want a beer and I want it in a plastic cup that has the Oriole’s season schedule and whatever happens to be the catch-phrase of the year on it. I do this everywhere I go and up til now it hasn’t been a problem. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the cup I got from Yankee Stadium because I can spit sunflower seed husks into it and it feels like I’m somehow spitting on the Yankees. That’s a good feeling. But how can I spit on the Orioles if they won’t give me a cup? Yes, I finally broke down and bought a lemonade because it was really freakin’ hot but a part of me is still outraged. It’s un-American.

And speaking of un-American, the Orioles tossed out a special welcome to the Venezuelan Embassy, employees of which happened to be in attendance at Saturday’s game. I suppose this shouldn’t have come as a surprise since half the players on the field had some sort of Venezuelan connection and we were only an hour’s drive from Washington D.C. And it was nice to see some of the Venezuelan players come through during the game; for instance, Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run shot in the first inning. But there’s just something a little strange about a group of people enjoying the classic American pastime while their president says things like: “I hereby accuse the North American empire of being the biggest menace to our planet.” I’m just saying…

But, despite the unfortunate ending to the game, the crowd’s even more unfortunate adoration of “the wave” and the disproportionately large and drunk meat-head a few rows in front of me, it was good to see my team play. It gives you a similar kind of feeling to the one you get when you find out that the blog you (kind of) help write has now moved up from fifth to fourth place in the standings. At this rate, we might even make the playoffs! There are playoffs, right?

Despite any protestation that Mr. Lung may have to the contrary, I have always been and always will be a one team man. My team has always been the Detroit Tigers and always will be the Detroit Tigers. Granted, they could shake my faith by trading for A-Rod or by signing Barry Bonds but even in those extreme cases, I will still find a way to love and stand by my team. And this is why I don’t support Hillary Clinton or Bill Richardson.

The other day as I sat checking my email, my muse (no, not Jeff) sent me a link to an interesting article. As I relished the thought of a Chavez-Richardson brouhaha, I remembered an airing of Meet the Press from earlier this year where Gov. Richardson tried to explain how he could be both a Yankees and a Red Sox fan. Now, although I realize that only a man who could try to logically justify the dialectical tension of simultaneously supporting the Red Sox and the Yankees could possibly have a chance at outwitting Senor Presidente himself, I myself am not so skilled as to be able to champion two forces so in opposition to each other. Perhaps I am just a simple man but I feel that truly supporting any team but the Tigers is a moral quandary to which I simply cannot subject myself.

Likewise, when the junior senator from the great state of New York claimed to equally support the Cubs and the Yankees, I failed to understand how this was possible. How can one person cheer for both the ultimate loser and the ultimate bully at the same time? It once again defies logic and leads to a moral quandary beyond the realm of my rationale.

However, my choice crystallized soon thereafter and as the baseball and campaign seasons rev up into full swing, I find solace in knowing that are still people out there who think like we do. There are people like my friend Jeff who will support the Cardinals even when they have dopers of historic proportions enshrined in their hallowed halls. There are people like myself who still love the Tigers despite their embrace of small-minded, bigoted, dirt base-stealers. And there are politicians who realize that you can’t have it boths ways and to truly support the people, you have to make decisions like the people. And that is one of the many reasons that I whole-heartedly support Barack Obama. He may be a fan of the White Sox, a team that holds dear a man who conspired to throw the event we hold most sacred, the World Series. But, he made that decision and refuses the moral quandary. That, my friends, is a leader.

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